# MOIC

Multiple of invested capital — the cash-on-cash return, ignoring time.

**Acronym:** MOIC

MOIC (multiple of invested capital) is a cash-on-cash return measure: the total value returned divided by the capital invested, expressed as a multiple such as 3×. It captures how many times the investment was returned, but it takes no account of how long that took.

MOIC is the complement to IRR, which is time-weighted. Because MOIC ignores time, the same multiple can represent very different outcomes: a 3× over three years is a far stronger result than a 3× over eight, though both report "3×." Reading MOIC and IRR together — magnitude and speed — is necessary to judge a return properly.

### Commonly confused

IRR. MOIC is the cash-on-cash multiple ignoring time; IRR is the time-weighted annualized return. A 3× over eight years and a 3× over three years are very different outcomes.

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